Right now we are looking at the following itinerary and I would appreciate your comments and suggestions. I have looked at other posts but still have questions. One question is whether it is better to go Dublin to County Clare/Galway to Dingle and back to Dublin, or start Dublin to Dingle. Also, is Galway a good home base for checking out County Clare (Cliffs, the Burren, etc.)? Is 3 nights too much? Would it be better to plan on spending a night somewhere between Dingle/Galway and Dublin to break up the drive and see something in between? Thanks
Dates are 9/4 (departure) to 9/14
0 - departure
1 - Arrive Dublin 10:30 am, spend in Dublin
2 - Dublin to Dingle
3 - Dingle
4 - Dingle to Galway
5 - Galway
6 - Galway
7 - Galway to Dublin
8 - Dublin
9 - Return home
Posted by
Vantage, WA
30 posts
Hi Miguel,
We just spent 8 nights in Ireland and here was our itinerary:
Day 1 and 2 (leaving Dublin airport by car) - Kilkenny
Day 3 and 4 - Dingle
Day 5 and 6 - Doolin
Day 7 and 8 - Dublin
We flew in and out of Dublin and I took the advice from a travel forum member and stayed in Dublin the last 2 nights, rather than split the nights up. On our way across country from Doolin (via Galway) to Dublin we went spent part of a day at Newgrange and Monasterboice in the Boyne Valley, not too far above Dublin. I would highly recommend this. There are a lot of historical sights in the Boyne Valley, we just picked those two things due to time constraints.
Dublin to Dingle is a long trip so I wouldn't recommend that unless you want to spend a good part of the day driving, especially if it is your first time driving in Ireland.
Doolin is a good home base to see the Cliffs, the Burren and to take a day trip to the Aran Island of Inisheer (a 20 minute ferry ride from Doolin). Inisheer was one of the highlights of our trip for me. If you stay in Doolin, I'd recommend Dunroman House B&B. Martina is your contact and will set you up with the ferry. You could see the cliffs and Inisheer in one day. We drove through part of the Burren on our way to Galway but didn't specifically stop at a visitor center to explore the Burren. It would be an easy drive to Galway after leaving Doolin, an hour or two at most, depending on the route you take to get there (ferry via the Aran Islands, coastal narrow road or bigger regional road).
Slainte'!
Susan
Posted by
OP
53 posts
Susan, thanks for the response. We are tied to Dublin the first night, and since we get there relatively early, should be able to walk around a bit. Will look at Kilkenny and also at the stops you mention on the way back. I'll go back to Rick's book, I recall he had some interesting things about Doolin.